Image by Center for Lowell History/City Engineer’s Collection
This photograph from 1925 shows one of the buildings on Tilden Street that contained both a commercial space and apartments. Over a decade earlier this area had become a small enclave of Madeirans. In the distance is City Hall and the Pollard Memorial Library.
Beginning in the 1890s, Portuguese, primarily from the Azores, settled in Back Central’s tenements and multi-family dwellings. By the early 1920s, over 2,200 Portuguese immigrants and their children lived in Lowell, with the majority residing in Back Central. A second and smaller Portuguese enclave, which was almost entirely Madeiran, extended along Tilden Street near City Hall. The city had become home to the second largest Portuguese population north of Boston (only Cambridge had more). While many toiled as wage earners in the city’s factories, some Portuguese established small businesses, and an even smaller number entered the ranks of the professions.
Image by PADA/St. Anthony’s Church Collection
With money donated by Lowell’s Portuguese, many of whom were poorly paid mill workers, the old Primitive Methodist Church on Gorham Street was acquired and served for as St. Anthony’s Church until 1908, when a new church on nearby Central Street opened its doors to parishioners.
Irrespective of occupation and social status, the vast majority belonged to St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church which, from its founding in 1901, played a central role in Portuguese life and culture. The various parish priests aided the spiritual needs of many parishioners and also provided modest levels of welfare relief to some of the poorer church members. The church also offered a variety of recreational and athletic activities, especially for Portuguese youth. Adding to the neighborhood’s vibrancy were the Portuguese social clubs, musical bands, church-affiliated societies, and businesses, notably grocery stores and barbershops.